Zack Baker

Tegan tried to dislodge the lump clogging her throat. With the set of his jaw, the ticking in his temple, the look in his eyes. Zack dared her.

"You'd really put our child through all that?" she asked, shocked.

"I'm doing the right thing. And the right thing is for our child to have both parents in his life and for us to be married."

"Then-"

"Barring that, unless you marry me, I'll do everything in my power to raise the child myself."

"You're trying to run my life."

"No, Tegan. As I've said, this is not just about us."

Her mind swam as she struggled to sort through the implications. He would sue. And with the legal system, he stood a chance of winning at least partial custody.

The idea of her child spending half its time with her, the other half with Zack, made her shudder. She had divorced friends, knew of the struggles they faced. There would be Christmas holidays spent apaprt, sad goodbyes on Friday nights, birthdays and summer vacations to divide between parents.

And there was the fact the child would be illegitimate. She told Zack it didn't matter, wanted to pretend he was wrong, but he wasn't.

Huntington Beach was a gossip town, and while most people would be supportive of her and the child, some wouldn't. Then there were the school years. Kids could be cruel, she knew. Like they had been to Zack.

But what of the cost to her?

It had taken a long time for her to gather the courage to leave Aaron and his constant criticisms. It had taken even longer for her to discover herself again, longer still for her to respect herself.

Until this instant, she thought she'd succeeded.

Zack's brazen scent of liquor, cigarettes and old spice invaded her senses. His touch made her throb. He was too close, too overwhelming, and she was losing everyting she thougt she'd found...

Fighting a wave of dizziness, she let go of Zack's wrists, only to grab a handful of his black T-shirt.

"Tegan?" he asked, his voice hollow, as if it came from a hundred miles away.

He'd stolen her choices.

He was distating to her, controlling her life. He held the power, and she was left with nothing.

Damn it, Damn him.

A second wave of dizziness made her knees buckle.

"Tegan! Answer me."

She fought against the threat of darkness, unable to think of anything except the baby growing in her womb.

In a move so quick she barely saw it, Zack caught her. sweeping her off her feet and cradling her in his arms.

Stars circled in front of her eyes, and her head rolled against his broad chest.

He held her gently, but firmly, and she knew he was safe.

This was the Zack she remembered from te night together, caring and courteous, not the man demanding her total surrender.

"I'm okay," she mumbled, struggling back from the edge of dizziness.

"Is your sister in the back room?"

"It's her day off."

He strode around the counter and toward the front door.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To the doctor."

Tegan grabbed hold of his shirt for stability, unnerved by the feel of him beneath the soft fabric.

Never slowing, he flipped over the Open sign to Closed and carried Tegan to his Explorer.

For once she didn't mind him making her decisions. The dizziness frightened her, and she knew it scared him, too. Stregnth resided in that thought, wrapping her in security.

He gently slid her ontl the seat then reached around her for the safety belt.

His arm brushed the tip of her responsive breats, and she gasped.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's okay, I'm just..."

He froze. His gaze sought hers. "Just?"

"Sensitive." Embarrassment clawed at her. With him she couldn't help bu remember how she'd given herself so completely to him.

Her hands shaking, she grabbed the safety belt from him and fastened it herself.

After climbing in beside her, he accelerated toward the hospital. With each minute that passed, she felt better. By the time they reached the doctor's office, there were no traces of dizziness or blurred vision.

Her assurances that she was okay didn't stop Zack from focusing his considerable attention on her. Even when she insisted she could walk, he carried her.

The nurse held open the door to an examining room, and Zack strode through.

"You can't come back here with me," Tegan protested.

He ignored her.

In the examination room, the nurch checked Tegan's blood pressure and temperature, then smiled.

"Is everything okay?" Zack asked. "That baby, Tegan..."

"Is he always this way?" the woman asked.

"Sometimes he's worse," Tegan replied, as a hot flush crept up her neck.

"You'll have to check with the doctor," the nurse told him. "But I can tell you that her blood pressure's normal and so is her temperature. You can rest easy, Daddy."

The door shut behind the woman, and Zack's gaze locked with Tegan's.

Daddy

And in that instand, she saw Zack's point, very clearly. She didn't have a right to deny him anything, despite her fear, despite her hesitation. He'd shared in the creation of life, just as she had.

Where that left her, she had no idea. If he'd just be more wiling to compromise, less rigid, less demanding...

But as he prowled the small confines of the room, wearing nervous energy like an aura, she realized he was none of those things.

Seconds later, teh doctor knocked then entered. "Tegan," he said in greeting. "I heard you've been seeing stars."

She drew comfort from the doctor's easy manner, knowing that if anything were seriously wrong, he wouldn't seem so relaxed. She closed her eyes in silent thanks.

"Zack Baker," the doctor said. "Haven't seen you here since we took care of your mother."

"Tegan and the baby-they're both going to be okay?"

"That would make you..."

"Tegan's fiance."

Her heart lept as Zack's gaze connected with hers.

"And my baby's father."

"Ah," the doctor said. "Congratulations are in order, on both counts."

Zack stood so close to her, she could feel his head. out of the corner of her eyes, she could see him, arms folded across his chest, watching as the doctor checked her over. She tried to look away-anywhere but at the man who was the center of all this.

"Did you fall?"

"No. Zack caught me."

"And I always will," Zack said softly.

"Good, good."

A few seconds later, the doctor adjusted the stethoscope.

"Well, young lady, it appears you fainted."

"What caused it?" Zack demanded.

"Any number of things-lack of regular meals, standing up too quickly, the stress of pregnancy on the body." Addressing Tegan, he added, "You'll be fine, but a little extra rest over the next couple of days couldn't hurt you."

Relieved, she nodded.

"Is there someone who can stay with you?"

"I will," Zack volunteered.

"Good, good. As soon as you feel up to it, you can resume all your normal activities, including sexual relations."

Butterflies fluttered deep inside her, knowing just what that meant. From the expression in his eyes, Zack remembered, too.

"I'll see you in a couple of weeks, Tegan, unless you have problems or questions, in which case, call me right away."

"We will." Zack promised.

Too late, she wondered if there was an inoculation she could have taken to protect herself from Zack and te effect he'd had on her one moonlitnight, when she'd been sqept away by magic and romance, and by the look of adoration a newlywed Val had for her husband...

Until that night, Tegan had never known a loneliness so painful it made her heart ache. Others had partners to dance with, husbands and boyfriend to love and hold. She had no one. Until Zack.

That one night had been like no other. She wasn't a woman who looked for pleasure anywhere she could find it. The way she'd been swept away had been completely out of character for her.

Then again, Zachary Baker wasn't like any other man she'd ever met.

She'd been standing by the punch bowl, feeling very much alone, when Zack had approached her. Befitting the best man, he'd been dressed in a tuxedo and was wearing a sinfully sexy smile. When he'd asked her to dance, her resistance had scatterd.

Instinctively she'd known he was too devastating, too dangerous for her. Trying to keep herself distant-and safe- she'd politely declined his first offer. But Zack had ben persistent. Then before she realized it was happening, she'd been lost.

The doctor left, and reality returned with a resounding thud.

"Ready to go?"

"Really, Zack, I appreciate your thoughtfulness-" She nearly choked on the words, but she knew she had a better chance of getting her way if she didn't argue. "But Elizabeth can stay with me." Her older sister would love the opportunity to fuss and nurture, Tegan knew.

And the thought of Elizabeth caring for her wasn't nearly as unnerving as the idea of Zack making himself comfortable in her house...

"I'm sure she can," he agreed.

With gratitude, she felt the stress of sleep from her shoulders.

"But I'm going to."

"I don't want to argue," she said.

"So don't."

"Zack-"

"I'm taking care of the woman who carries my child. End of discussion."

She sighed in deep frustration, but she didn't argue further. To tell the truth, she'd been frightened silly and welcomed someone taking care of her. But darn it, why did he have to be so sexy?

"You want to walk, or do you want me to carry you?"

He offered his hand, and she reluctantly allowed him to help her down from the table. "I can walk," she said pulling away.

That didn't stop him from cupping his hand possessively around her elbow. And they weren't even officially engaged yet.

Outside, in the dappled warmt of the early summer sunshine, goosebumps chased up and down her arms-not from the breeze, which stirred the tops of threes, but from the way his touch made memory spark and flare.

She'd run from him the morning after they'd been intimate.

In the harsh glare of morning sunlight, she'd seen her mistake for just that. Noticing that she was awake, Zack had eased her against him, his fingers tangling in her mussed hair. Softly and with a sexy drawl, he'd said they were good together, that he wanted to know her better. He'd asked her to start dating him.

Even then, she'd seen how powerfulhe was. Muttering an excuse to hold him off, she prayed he'd shower soon. When he had, she'd fled. The certainty that she wouldn't survive a relationship with him had clawed at her.

Now a relationship was exactly what she had.

He closed the Explorer's door, then climbed in beside her. Thankfully, this time he didn't try to help with the seat belt.

Now that some of her worry had passed and Zack was no longer overwhelming her, she became aware of him as the man she'd met at Matt and Val's wedding, the man who'd held her close and swept her off her feet.

She inhaled the hit of Old Spice and cigarettes, the same scent that had wrapped around her when he danced with her.

Instead of turning west toward the town's residential area, where she lived, he headed east, her heart sank and thoughts of their night otgether fled. Facing him, she demanded to know, "Where are we going?"

For a second, he took his eyes from the road. "Home."

"Home?"

"My home," he clarified. "It'll be easier for me to take care of you at my place."

He was a whirlwind, and she was sucked up in it, in him. "Zack, this...you...you can't do this."

He directed his gaze back to the road, as if the conversation were over. "You heard what the doctor said."

"Don't twist his meaning to suit your wants."

"You should be getting stressed."

"So stop stressing me," She challenged, looking at the rugged planes of his profile.

He drove down the driveway, parking infront of the house.

Cutting off the engine, he turned slightly to face her, stretching his arm across the back seat, his fingers barely a half inch from her shoulder.

"Tegan, the doctor wants someone to stay with you. I'm your finace, you'fe carrying my baby. I'm the logical one to take care of you. I want to care for you."

"I'm used to taking care of myself."

"I know." He gently touched her shoulder. "But you don't have to be tough all the time."

"I'm not."

Even though her lightweight sweater, she felt his warmth. And in his eyes, she saw that this wasn't a deman, it was a request. He knew how to cut through her defenses, she realized. "Zack, I can manage."

"You ran away from me that morning."

"Don't."

"You enjoyed our night together."

She couldn't respond, not with the way her heart was racing and the way memory warmed her insides.

"Didn't you?"

Heat flooded through her and seeped into her face. "It doesn't matter."

"It matters," he countered.

Blindly she scooted closer to the door, only to have Zack slide his hand behind her neck, his thumb glinding across the stop in her throat where her pounding pulse betrayed the emotions she wanted-needed-to hide from him.

"Was it just my imaginatioin that you responded to me and fell apart in my arms?"

"Zack, stop. That night is over. It was a mistake."

He kept up the slow, maddening motions.

"Did I give you the same kind of pleasure that I received, Tegan?"

"You..."

"Did I make you feel things, make your body ache with need?"

"Zack, please. Do we have to discuss this?"

"Your resonse wasn't part of your lie, was it? A way to keep me interested and get me to lose myself deep inside you more than once?"

Heaven save her from him, his knowing touch, his sensual questions.

"Was it, Tegan?"

He wouldn't be satisfied until she answered, but could she? Where was the courage to admit something she'd rather keep secret? She had to be hones; he'd be on the lookout for anything less. "It wasn't a lie," she confessed, her voice shaky. "I..."

"Yes?"

"I wanted you."

"It's human nature for men and women to need each other."

"Maybe human nature," she said. "Not mind."

"Give in," he urged.

As she had before? She couldn't.

"Let me take care of you. Get the rest you need, take advantage of the fact I'll be at your beck and call."

"Zack..." She squeezed her eyes closed. Somehow, that only made the stroke of his roughened hands against her smoother skin feel like a contrast of satin and spurs. Each sensation seemed heightned and she wanted to respond.

She pried her eyes open. Not missing anything-the parting of her lips, the change in her breathing-Zack watched her.

"If you won't do it for me, for you, do it for our baby."

He'd pushed her to the edge.

"How about it?" he asked, his strength enveloping her. "For now, give in."

Her pulse thumped and the air shimmered with danger. In order to appease him, she reluctantly conceded. "Temporarily. I'll stay with you temporarily."

He smiled then. Strangely, it wasn't triumphant. Instead it made the dark specks in his green eyes a shade lightsr, a shade less hostile and wary. She'd see that expression before, the moment he'd feathered a thumb across her lip during their second dance at Matt and Val's wedding...

After he released her, she all but shoved the door open.

Outside, air swept down from the ocean, chilling where his touch had warmed.

"Cold?"

Didn't he miss anything? Shaking her head, she said, "I'm fine." Physically.

He draped an arm around her and drew her closer to him. As if they were really a couple.

A fresh shiver traced her spine. This time it was more than just the wind at work. If he had his way, they would be a couple, their agreement signed in front of witnesses. He'd have this kind of control over her all the time.

Once they were inside, he sealed the door shut. Possiblility of escape vanished, and she felt her heart thunder.

Thankfully, he slipped his arm from her shoulder and moved deeper into the house. He left her alone, momentarily, in the foyer.

Tegan couldn't help remembering the only other time she'd been inside his home. It had been late, dark, and her attention had been focused solely on him. When he'd drawn her up the staircase, she'd only had time to notice small details about the MASTER BEDROOM.

. The bed, framed with metal was a study of masculine dominance.

Realized he'd returned, she shook her head to dispel the image, then followed him.

"I'll light a fire in the LIVING ROOM.

."

"That's not-"

"Necessary, yeah, I know."

That didn't dissuade him. With a little tremor, she wondered if anything did.

He made her comfortable on the couch, pulling her legs onto the cushions and draping a cotton throw over her. Then he placed kindling in the grate, adding wood and sparking a flame. She watched him, mesmerized as much now as she had been two months ago.

His frame, Broad and a tad chubby, stretched against the cotton material of his black T-shirt. Equally dark denim jeans encased his legs and conformed to the slip planes of his hips.

She tipped back her head.

She knew all too well that under the jeans he was as solid and capable as he appeared.

What, she wondered for the hundreth time, had a single slip cost her? If she'd had any idea her future would be entwined with a man this overwhelming, she would have stayed home from the wedding and sent Matt and Val a gift.

Placing his hands on his thighs, he pushed himself upright.

She was attracted to Zack, and that's why she'd surrendered herself to him. Now, desperately, she'd wished she weren't so incredibly aware of him.

He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It was a small act, easy and so very intimate. It made her heart miss a beat.

"Do you need to call Liz?" he asked.

"Oh, no!" Her hand went to her throat. In a hurry and worry, she'd forgotten to let her sister know that the store wasn't covered.

"I'll get you the cordless phone."

He did. But he didn't give her any privacy. Instead, he stood near the fireplace, arm stretched across the mantel as he listened to her explain where she was and that she wouldn't be at work tomorrow.

"Is he refusing to marry you?" Liz demanded once she was certain Tegan was fine. "If he is, I can come over there myself and give him a piece of my mind."

Tegan turned her gaze away from him. "No."

"Then that means he asked you to marry him? I told you he would, once he knew about the baby. Oh, Tee, this is fabulous! Just fabulous!"

Tegan didn't agree.

"When's the wedding? Can I be your maid of honor and should I let Mom and Dad know that you're getting married, after all? They'll want to hear it from you, but since you're going to be at Zack's for a while, I'll-naturally, we'll do the flowers," Lis gushed, tripping over herself in excitement. "How about some red tulips in the bouquet? It'd make a splash."

"Red tulips?"

"Red ones...you know, as a declaration of love."

Her heart twisted.

Elizabeth rushed on. "Did you set a date yet? And have you given any thought as to how we'll all spend the holidays? Oh, Tegan, this is just too exciting."

Tegan took a breath. Against her will, her gaze was drawn back to Zack. He was studying her carefully, the smae way he had when he'd carefully lowered himself on top of her-

She nearly dropped the phone.

Zacky reacted in an instant, moving across the room and taking the receiver from her. He explained to Elizabeth that Tegan needed rest, promised they'd be in touch, then hung up.

"Did she upset you?"

Tegan shook her head, but he frowned, crouching next to her and placing his palm across her forehead. The contrast of him-strong, and guitar calloused hands against her much smaller body, heat melting chill, masculine against feminine-made her insides warm.

Zack paused, capturing her gaze. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "Finding out about your pregnancy...out baby...I should have handled it better." He feathered his fingers into her hair, smoothing the layered strands back from her face.

"You're sorry?" she managed, her heart thumping.

"For upsetting you."

Her heart tightened. She thought, hoped, for just a second that he'd come back down, agree to comprimise. But the words comprimise and Zack don't fit in the same sentence.

"If anything had happened to you or our baby..." He trailed off, then swore softly. "I would never forgive myself."

His gut honest words, husky with remorse, weakened a part of her, that was trying to steel against him.

This was how it had started with him, she knew, exactly how it happened that night. He'd hidden nothing from her, telling her how he was reacting to her, sharing feelings Aaron had always shut her out of.

Zack had asked the same in return, not allowing her to hide. He'd encouraged her to let go, and with his gentle encouragement, she'd behave in ways she'd never imagined possible.

Now he was doing the same thing again, exposing his emotions and disarming her at the same time. It was working. Even though she knew better, she was responding with womanly warmth.

"I won't push you, Tegan." He continued in that same honest way that made rational thought impossible. "But I'd like for us to be marriedin the next couple of weeks. I want you under my roof, where I can protect you, take care of you, make sure you get what you need."

"I know you don't want it, but it's the right thing for our child. I think you know that."

He was right. She couldn't do to her child what had been done to Zack. Even though he hadn't told her a lot about his past, she'd heard the hurt in his voice when he talked of being unwanted.

Tegan couldn't, wouldn't do that to their baby.

She didn't know what had happened between him and Gena. But the tightening of his lips when Tegan had repeated the rumor that he kicked out his wife and baby told her the gossip had been wrong.

He would love their baby, even if he'd never love Tegan. He had a right to be a father. Gently he drew her hands between his, as if saying she held his life in her hands.

Their gazes met and held, and she couldn't think.

"Tegan," he said, his voice husky, this time I'm asking, for all our sakes, will you marry me?"